Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Aug 2020
Review Meta AnalysisMultiple versus fewer antiplatelet agents for preventing early recurrence after ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack.
Stroke is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Antiplatelet agents are considered to be the cornerstone for secondary prevention of stroke, but the role of using multiple antiplatelet agents early after stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) to improve outcomes has not been established. ⋯ Multiple antiplatelet agents are more effective in reducing stroke recurrence but increase the risk of haemorrhage compared to one antiplatelet agent. The benefit in reduction of stroke recurrence seems to outweigh the harm for dual antiplatelet agents initiated in the acute setting and continued for one month. There is lack of evidence regarding multiple versus multiple antiplatelet agents. Further studies are required in different populations to establish comprehensive safety profiles and long-term outcomes to establish duration of therapy.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Aug 2020
Review Meta AnalysisPersonally tailored activities for improving psychosocial outcomes for people with dementia in community settings.
People with dementia living in the community, that is in their own homes, are often not engaged in meaningful activities. Activities tailored to their individual interests and preferences might be one approach to improve quality of life and reduce challenging behaviour. ⋯ Offering personally tailored activities to people with dementia living in the community may be one approach for reducing challenging behaviour and may also slightly improve the quality of life of people with dementia. Given the low certainty of the evidence, these results should be interpreted with caution. For depression and affect of people with dementia, as well as caregivers' quality of life and burden, we found no clear benefits of personally tailored activities.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Aug 2020
ReviewMobility management to prevent, reduce, or delay driving a car in teenagers.
Rates of injury and death caused by car crashes with teenage drivers remain high in most high-income countries. In addition to injury and death, car use includes other non-traffic risks; these may be health-related, such as physical inactivity or respiratory disease caused by air pollution, or have global significance, such as the environmental impact of car use. Research demonstrates that reducing the amount of time driving reduces the risk of injury, and it is expected that it would also reduce other risks that are unrelated to traffic. Mobility management interventions aim to increase mobility awareness and encourage a shift from private car use to active (walking, cycling, skateboarding), and public (bus, tram, train), transportation. 'Soft' mobility management interventions include the application of strategies and policies to reduce travel demand and may be instigated locally or more widely, to target a specific or a non-specific population group; 'hard' mobility management interventions include changes to the built environment or transport infrastructure and are not the focus of this review. Between the ages of 15 to 19 years, young people enter a development stage known as the 'transition teens' in which they are likely to make long-lasting lifestyle changes. It is possible that using this specific time point to introduce mobility management interventions may influence a person's long-term mobility behaviour. ⋯ We found only two small studies, and could not determine whether mobility management interventions were effective to prevent, reduce, or delay car driving in teenagers. The lack of evidence in this review raises two points. First, more foundational research is needed to discover how and why young people make decisions surrounding their personal transport, in order to find out what might encourage them to delay licensing and driving. Second, we need longitudinal studies with a robust study design - such as RCTs - and with large sample sizes that incorporate different socioeconomic groups in order to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of relevant interventions. Ideally, evaluations will include an assessment of how attitudes and beliefs evolve in teenagers during these transition years, and the potential effect of these on the design of a mobility management intervention for this age group.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Aug 2020
ReviewEndometrial injection of embryo culture supernatant for subfertile women in assisted reproduction.
Despite substantial improvements in the success of assisted reproduction techniques (ART), live birth rates may remain consistently low, and practitioners may look for innovative treatments to improve the outcomes. The injection of embryo culture supernatant in the endometrial cavity can be undertaken at various time intervals before embryo transfer. It provides an altered endometrial environment through the secretion of factors considered to facilitate implantation. It is proposed that injection of the supernatant into the endometrial cavity prior to embryo transfer will stimulate the endometrium and provide better conditions for implantation to take place. An increased implantation rate would subsequently increase rates of clinical pregnancy and live birth, but current robust evidence on the efficacy of injected embryo culture supernatant is lacking. ⋯ We are uncertain whether the addition of endometrial injection of embryo culture supernatant before embryo transfer as a routine method for the treatment of women undergoing ART can improve pregnancy outcomes. This conclusion is based on current available data from five RCTs, with evidence quality ranging from very low to moderate across studies. Further large well-designed RCTs reporting on live births and adverse clinical outcomes are still required to clarify the exact role of endometrial injection of embryo culture supernatant before embryo transfer.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Aug 2020
ReviewRoutine Health Information System (RHIS) improvements for strengthened health system management.
A well-functioning routine health information system (RHIS) can provide the information needed for health system management, for governance, accountability, planning, policy making, surveillance and quality improvement, but poor information support has been identified as a major obstacle for improving health system management. ⋯ The review indicates mixed effects of mainly technical interventions to improve data quality, with gaps in evidence on interventions aimed at enhancing data-informed health system management. There is a gap in interventions studying information support beyond clinical management, such as for human resources, finances, drug supply and governance. We need to have a better understanding of the causal mechanisms by which information support may affect change in management decision-making, to inform robust intervention design and evaluation methods.